1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electric coffee maker, and more particularly to a brewing apparatus for an electric coffee maker, which can receive and process ground coffee beans and hot water so as to discharge brewed coffee and consumed ground coffee therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional electric coffee maker that is found in coffee shops is generally provided with a brewing apparatus. When it is desired to brew coffee in the conventional electric coffee maker, a switch is actuated so as to feed automatically selected amounts of ground coffee beans and hot water into the brewing apparatus, thereby discharging brewed coffee from the coffee maker. However, because the brewing apparatus includes at least one vertically movable element, there is a need for providing numerous elements to cooperate with the movable element, thereby resulting in a complicated structure for the conventional coffee maker. Furthermore, it is difficult to remove consumed ground coffee from the conventional coffee maker.
An object of this invention is to provide a brewing apparatus for an electric coffee maker, which has a simple structure and which can remove automatically consumed ground coffee therefrom as soon as a brewing process is completed.
According to this invention, a brewing apparatus for an electric coffee maker includes a sleeve unit and a plunger unit disposed horizontally and movably within a base. Firstly, when a large chamber is defined within the sleeve unit between the plunger unit and a water-feeding unit, ground coffee beans can be fed into the large chamber via an opening in the sleeve unit. Subsequently, when the sleeve unit and the plunger clamp the ground coffee beans, hot water can be fed into a small chamber defined within the sleeve unit between the plunger unit and the water-feeding unit, thereby resulting in consumed ground coffee and brewed coffee that exits from the plunger unit. Finally, when the sleeve unit is separated from the plunger unit, the consumed ground coffee drops from a space defined between the sleeve unit and the plunger unit.